Sri Lanka's Muslim community outraged over latest state-run burning of Covid-19 victim

Sri Lanka authorities have sparked renewed anger over its mandatory policy of burning deceased Covid-19 patients following the torching of a 20-day-old Muslim Covid-19 baby who died of the virus.

Members of Muslim group Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamaath protest against the cremation of Muslim COVID victims near the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo [Chamila Karunarathne/EPA]

Baby Shaykh was cremated despite the family's refusal based on religious grounds.

Muslim practices dictate that a deceased believer is to be buried shortly after their passing, but Sri Lanka's government policy on burying dead Covid-19 patients has left many Muslim believers feeling stripped of their rights in the predominantly Buddhist nation.

So far 15 Muslims who died from the virus, including baby Shaykh, have been burnt.

Shaykh's father, who in an interview with Al Jazeera, said he couldn't gather the courage to witness the burning of his son.

“I told them that I cannot go into a place where they are burning my baby. My friends and family asked the authorities how they can go ahead with the cremation when neither of the parents had signed any document giving consent,” MFM Fahim told Al Jazeera, adding, "When we asked questions, they didn’t have any proper answer.”

Human rights groups in Sri Lanka call the government's policy a complete disregard for the beliefs and practices of minorities.

One human rights activist who spoke to Al Jazeera claims that not only does the government burn deceased Covid-19 patients against family wishes, but they also ask family members of the patient to cover cremation costs.

For instance, Shaykh's parents were asked to pay approximately $300 for his cremation, according to Azath Salley, leader of the National Unity Alliance (NUA) and former governor of the Western Province.

According to Sri Lanka's healthy ministry, burying the bodies of dead Covid-19 patients will contaminate the country's groundwater. A committee of experts appointed on Nov. 4th to examine the government's policy backed the claim in a report submitted on Nov. 22nd.

Efforts by Christian and Muslim groups to challenge the law were dismissed on Dec.1st. by the Supreme Court.

To appease Sri Lanka's Muslim community, the country's head of state, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, asked his counterpart in the Muslim majority nation of Maldives, to grant his government permission to ship deceased Sri Lankan Muslims and have them buried in Maldives instead.

Activists describe the request, which Maldives ended up accepting, as a slap on the face by their government who would rather have its own people buried elsewhere than in the very country they were born in.

By: Niza Nondo